Technology In The Spanish Language Essay, Research Paper

The rise of information engineering is the individual most of import technological development of the twentieth century. It has revolutionised about every aspect of modern life. Areas every bit diverse as stock-holding, banking, publication and personal communicating have been transformed thanks to the computing machine. As a consequence, computing machine slang is one the fastest and widest-reaching countries of lexical alteration in Spanish, in that a whole new country of nomenclature has evolved. How has the Spanish linguistic communication coped with this inflow of new footings, for which a demand had ne’er antecedently existed? My chief purpose in this essay is to give a general study of common ( and some less common ) calculating footings in Spanish, foremost refering hardware and package, and secondly refering the Internet. I intend to analyze throughout the lexical procedures involved.

There are two chief procedures by which new words are being adopted into Spanish. First, it has utilised the procedure of? borrowing? . This means that it has adopted words from other linguistic communications, in this instance, chiefly from English. Second, it has used? neology? . This is where it has taken bing words and roots from its linguistic communication stock, and altered them to indue them with new significances. The more common of the two, in the domain of information engineering, is borrowing. Since the huge bulk of technological development in this field takes topographic point in the USA, the bulk of proficient vocabulary devised is in originally in English. Therefore, it takes a deliberate attempt to hispanicise such footings. Although such attempts do take topographic point, English footings do be given to? catch on? earlier than their neologised Spanish opposite numbers, since engineering is presently developing at such an unbelievable rate that Spanish frequently struggles to maintain up.

One of the countries in which Spanish linguistic communication footings hold sway is in the names of the physical hardware of a computing machine system. For illustration, in Peninsular Spanish the term for a computing machine is ordenador, despite the being of a word similar to its English opposite number. Other hardware footings derived from Spanish roots include teclado for keyboard ( although this is non a new term, as it was used antecedently to mention to typewriter keybofer to typewriter keyboards ) and impresora for pressman. Both of these footings are bona-fide neologies. Teclado is derived from the noun tecla, intending key. Impresora is likely derived from the verb impresionar, intending? to go forth an feeling? . The postfix -or ( a ) , which suggests functionality, has been added to the root of the verb impres- .

When speaking about hardware, we besides see illustrations of? loan interlingual rendition? or? calquing? , whereby foreign footings are translated direct, giving an reliable Spanish term. For illustration, the English term? mouse? , itself a metaphorical neology, is given in Spanish as rat? n, and difficult disc is given as disco duro. ( Floppy discs, on the other manus, are by and large referred to as un floppy, despite the being of footings such as disquete or disco flexible ) .

A headline taken from the web site of the extremely respected Madrid-based day-to-day newspaper, El Pa? s: ( ? Parlamentos, escuelas y hospitales instalan un package que interfiere la se? al de los tel? fonos m? viles para evitar La poluci? n Sonora & # 8217 ; . [ Ciberpa? s, 25/1/2001 ] ) highlights the dependance of borrowed words in the field of information engineering. The Oxford Spanish-English lexicon informs us that the lone tantamount English? package? is the borrowed package. However, Fern? ndez Calvo? s online nomenclature usher offers two options: componente cubic decimeter? gico and programa. It is hard to conceive of nevertheless, either of these two footings going platitude, the former being excessively tedious, and the latter being excessively obscure. However, when package does look in printed media, it is more frequently than non italicised. Clearly so, the word has non been to the full assimilated into the Spanish vocabulary. ( Interestingly, specific assortments of package tend to hold neologised footings. ? Desktop publication? is given as autoedici? n [ note the usage of the prefix auto- conveying the? independent? nature of desktop publication ] . ? Spreadsheet? is translated as hoja de c? lculos, and? word processing? as procesamiento de textos ) .

The usage of borrowed English footings is besides apparent in more recent developments in hardware. For illustration, scanner is rendered as esc? ner. Clearly, this has been adapted to accommodate Spanish spelling regulations, which forbid an initial? s? when followed by a consonant. The borrowed noun, nevertheless, has besides spawned a verbal signifier, escanear, through the add-on of the infinitive postfix -ear. The modem is besides a comparatively new device ( new, inasmuch as it has merely late become accessible on a big graduated table ) . It is rendered in Spanish as m? dem. ( Clearly this is an English term which has been adopted. Were the word derived in Spanish as it was in English, we would see a somewhat different consequence. The term modem is derived from two English words & # 8211 ; an abbreviation of? modulator/demodulator? , which in Spanish would be modulador/desmoduladora giving us m? desm ) .

The modem leads us to an country of rapid lexical alteration in Spanish, which is the Internet. Change, both technologically and linguistically is more rapid on the Internet than in any other country of information engineering. In the last degree Fahrenheit

electronic warfare old ages, we have become accustomed to a broad scope of vocabulary, such as electronic mail, home page, web site and so on. More so than in the country of hardware, Spanish is confronting something of a battle to invariably invent equivalents to common English footings. Due to the rate at which Internet nomenclature is altering, it is hard for lexicons to maintain up, although the visual aspect of online glossaries, which are much more easy and stingily updated, have helped to turn to this.

There are many extremely proficient footings which are non altered at all in order to continue international uniformity. Footings such as TCP/IP, FTP, HTML, etc are the preserve of coders and web interior decorators and for matter-of-fact grounds remain unchanged. However, it is non merely in these countries that borrowing from English occurs. There are many English footings which have permeated the Spanish lexis through the Internet.

The Internet itself can be defined in several ways in Spanish. The first and most common manner is merely the usage of the English term? Internet? . This has, of class, upset many who feel that Spanish should invent its ain name to avoid linguistic communication pollution. The are now several viing Spanish footings to depict the Internet, such as La malla and La urdimbre. The most popular term in Spain is la ruddy ( literally intending? cyberspace? , or? web? ) . The Spanish quality imperativeness, of class, favours this term, but in conversation with Spaniards, I have noticed that Internet is by far more common. The same occurs with? electronic mail? . This can be rendered in two ways. The? criterion? version, to be found in lexicons and the quality imperativeness, is the Spanish-derived correo electr? nico. In footings of spoken, and progressively, written Spanish, the loan word electronic mail is common.

However, the quality imperativeness is non immune to adoption ( see the illustration of package above ) . On scrutiny of El Pa? s? s home page, we see illustrations of borrowed footings. The calculating subdivision of the newspaper? s web site ( Ciberpa? s ) uses the prefix ciber- ( an version of the English? cyber- ? which in bend is borrowed from Greek ) to bespeak that it is concerned with the Internet. El Mundo? s web site besides offers illustrations of adoption: ? EEUU, Inglaterra y Australia, V? ctimas de un ataque a webs gubernamentales? . Web is the most common term for a web site in Spanish. The hebdomadal satirical magazine, El Jueves used to offer a jesting option, J? mpeich, although this excessively has given manner to El Webes.

One of the most distressing facets of the Internet is the rise of ciberespanglish. This derogative term is, as the name suggests, an Internet based for of the Spanish/English intercrossed Spanglish, which is common among ill educated talkers of Spanish in the USA and some Latin American states. In certain Internet communities, particularly amongst young person, English is seen to be more modern and stylish than Spanish. As a consequence, hispanicised English signifiers appear. For illustration, the footings hablar or charlar por cyberspace have about been superseded by the term chatear, formed from the English? confabs? with the -ear postfix. Miranda Stewart offers several other illustrations of this: printear, deletear, and downloadear. It is unusual that these words have been created in malice of bing Spanish? norms? : imprimir, borrar and trasvasar. I believe that this is simply an illustration of immature people making their ain slang to separate themselves from the norm. This is besides be the instance with footings such as un hacker and its derived verbal signifier haquear.

There are, gratefully, several cases of calquing in the field of proficient Internet footings, which to some extent displaces the laterality of English. Netglos, for illustration offers us anfitri? n as an equivalent to the English? host? . Besides the English term? bandwidth? ( which concerns the velocity of file transportation ) is given as ancho de banda.

We have seen that in seeking to accommodate itself to the lingual necessities of the information age, the Spanish linguistic communication chiefly uses two signifiers of making nomenclature. The first of these, and the most widespread is borrowing, particularly from English. Spanish has some trouble covering with the more obscure constructs of information engineering, such as package and hardware. Likewise, more recent hardware footings such as m? dem and esc? ner have been borrowed from English and assimilated into Spanish. It is in the Internet that we see the most usage of footings being borrowed. English footings are besides seen as holding an air of modernness, which is why footings such as web appear in the imperativeness. Thankfully, for the Spanish linguistic communication, lexical alteration is non limited to borrowing English words. Neologisms are being created all the clip and in many instances are going platitude.

Bibliography

Batchelor, R.E. ; Using Spanish Synonyms ; Cambridge UP, 1994

Ciberpa? s ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ciberpais.elpais.es

El Pa? s Digital ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.elpais.es

El Mundo, Diario del Navegante ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.elmundo.es/navegante/diario/

Fern? ndez Calvo, Rafael ; Glosario B? sico ingl? s-espa? ol parity usarios del Internet ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ati.es/publicaciones/novatica/glointv2.html

Netglos ; hypertext transfer protocol: //wwli.com/translation/netglos/glossary/glossary.html

Oxford Spanish-English Dictionary ; OUP, 1998

Stewart, M ; The Spanish Language Today, Routledge, London, 1999